I have been off of here for several days because we had some things going on at home that were unavoidable.

Meet Langlang, one of our two dogs. His name in English translates to "Wolfwolf" (which in Chinese, is the way they say "woofwoof". Chinese humor) Langlang was a "rescue". A stray found in the city of Kunshan. I have a friend who works at a shelter here and one day she asked if we would be willing to take in another dog. I told her I would have to speak with "She who must be obeyed" (my wife), but was pretty sure she wouldn't mind because we had discussed getting a 2nd dog to be a companion to our other dog. She wasn't quite sure about it, but the shelter was having an adoption weekend at a mall and she agreed to at least go look. So, we took an hour and a half bus ride to the mall and when we got there I was immediately drawn to this little puppy who had big eyes and started wagging his tail when I approached him. Well, I picked him up and we became fast friends immediately. I looked at my wife and she shook her head and said "well, ok...". I have to tell you here- I love my wife deeply and one of the main reasons is that she has am amazing heart. She cares for animals like no one I know and is so good to our pets. She is a magnificent woman and I am so lucky to have her in my life. Our 2nd wedding anniversary was this past Friday, too.

We took a cab home and introduced our other, very big dog to Langlang. They too became fast friends and Sam was quite "mothering" to langlang, taking care of him and playing with him. And over the past year, they have been inseparable. Where you find one, you find the other. We just loved the way he adjusted to our "pack" and became like a child to us, as is our other dog, Sam.


Well, this past Friday, my wife and I went out to dinner for our anniversary and came home late. Johnny, our son, was waiting for us at the door to tell us that while he was walking the dogs, Langlang was being bothered by a stray and broke free from his leash. He had looked, but could not find him. He and his mom went out again to look and could not find him, so I told her that the next morning, I'd go out and look. On Saturday, it was raining here, but I went out anyway and spent about 3 hours walking all around ours and the surrounding neighborhoods. No luck. So, we made some posters and while looking again on Sunday, we posted them as well, asking anyone who has seen this dog to call us. Sunday night, we received a call from our vet's office telling us a woman had seen the dog by a path going toward an apartment complex that is about 1km from our home. At 11:00 p.m., Emily and I went to the location and found the body of our dog. We both cried like babies when we saw him. I am not sure what happened. I suspect one of two things. It was brutally hot here over the past week and I suspect he may have gotten dehydrated. The other possibility is that there is a construction site near where we found him and a pond of what looks to be very polluted water there. If he drank from it, he would surely die from the chemicals within the water. So, we went back to our apartment and gathered up things to bury him. We had a little service, cried and hugged each other and said our goodbyes to this sweet, wonderful little fellow.


I feel an enormous amount of guilt in not finding him. I was his alpha, and he always came to me and curled up on top of my feet when he was scared or nervous. I would pet him and talk to him to calm his nerves. He was in a similar position when we found him and I have to wonder what he was thinking. Wondering why we didn't come get him. A lonely way to die for sure and it honestly broke my heart when I saw his position, because I know he was scared when he died.


Here are some photos of him. All shot with a phone. The woman in the photos is my wife, Emily.